An introduction to research on <i>Satsuma Biwa Uta</i> on the Edo Period

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  • 江戸時代の薩摩琵琶歌の研究序説
  • エド ジダイ ノ サツマ ビワウタ ノ ケンキュウ ジョセツ

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Heikyoku, music performed on the Heilke Biwa which accompanies the recital of the Heike Monogatari (The Tales of the Heike Family), is considered the literary flower of the Middle Ages in Japan.<br>In the same way, the Edo Period text of Ko-Satsuma-Biwa-Uta, accompanied by the Satsuma Biwa, are masterpieces of the regional Satsuma literary genre in more recent times.<br>To date, very little research has been done on these texts—possibly due to the fact that the performance guidlines for the pieces were transmitted orally. It has therefore been very difficult to find written records of the music or guidelines for Ko-Satsuma-Biwa-Uta from this time.<br>Nevertheless, I was fortunate enough to find a large number of Ko-Satsuma-Biwa-Uta among the Biwa-Uta-Hon (music books for Biwa Uta) published during the Meiji Period, and I realized that this would provide me with adequate material for my research on Ko-Satsuma-Biwa-Uta.<br>Therefore, I began to collect Ko-Satsuma-Biwa-Uta from the Biwa-Uta-Hon music books housed in the National Diet Library, finally gaining access to about 180 texts, including six dan-mono (songs to accompany long epic poems) and 52 ha-uta (songs for shorter epic poems and lyric poems). This formed the basis for my research.<br>In the present paper I have categorized all of the pieces into two types, according to the length of the musc (i. e., whether dan-mono or ha-uta). In a further classification, ha-uta are broken down into six sub-categories.<br>The classification is followed by a report on the composers and the historical background of each piece.<br>Finally, the full text of one dan-mono and four ha-uta are given as examples.

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